By Nathan Barton

The drums of war are pounding: the dogs of war snap at their tethers, seeking to be let loose.

Or so you’d believe looking at the major, mainstream media – and much of the alternate media.

A South Korean news agency claims that North Korea plans to fire its ICBMs with nuclear warhead(s) at Guam (BBC).  This is of course in response to Trump’s and the Pentagon’s saber-rattling. Saber-rattling ratified and supported by new UN sanctions – sanctions NOT vetoed by either the Russian Federation or Communist China.

Mama’s Note: “Sanctions” witch only damage the poorest of the poor, as vital foods and medicines are blocked far more than anything else.

The Global Times warns that India overestimates Communist China’s desire for peace, and that the Chinese actually may launch small-scale military operation to drive Indian troops out of a disputed part of the Himalayas.

Activist Post claims that US troops are already actually fighting on the ground in Yemen.  We are seeing fighting continuing in Mesopotamia (Iraq), Afghanistan, Ukraine, Nigeria, South Sudan, and elsewhere; there are calls for American warplanes to aid the Philippines’ fight against the Muslim Moros in the south.

There continues to be significant fighting in Mexico between the various cartels and between them and the Mexican governments’ (federal and state) forces.  We just don’t hear very much about it today.

Catalonia continues to press towards independence after more than five centuries’ submission to the central Royal government in Madrid.  Although it is not actual war yet, the attitude of Madrid seems to be pointing in that direction.  I do not expect Madrid (or Barcelona) to back down.  For one thing, the example set by Catalonian independence would sit very poorly on the rest of the powers that be – especially in NATO.  Think about that: 500+ years!  There were no (known) Europeans on the North or South American continents: every AmerInd tribe was independent with not a single treaty to make them a “dependent nation” (well, except for those that were under the rule of imperial neighboring AmerInd tribes).  The only part of Italy subject politically to Rome was the Papal States.  France didn’t control a single bit of the Rhine River.  And on and on.  And even for those countries that were firmly under foreign control at that time (like Brittany in what is now France, or the Basque country), their goals of independence are far more realistic – even if it takes war to do it.  Meanwhile various levels of combat continue to bedevil much of Europe, due to outside invasion: predominantly Muslim.

But the real war that concerns me right now is the war on American streets: a war more and more between the police and anyone (and everyone) else.  

It turns out that two police who gunned down a sixteen year old kid in Arkansas won’t even go to trial. No charges are being made because someone (the prosecutor) has decided the killing was justified because the teen had a black bb pistol, reported by Fox. At the same time, as reported by US News, a sixteen-year-old also in Arkansas IS being charged as an adult with first-degree murder for killing a cop.  It seems to me that, “lawful” or not, to help keep the peace, the two cops SHOULD face a jury of their peers to both examine ALL the evidence in the public eye AND to demonstrate that NO ONE is above the law.  But this isn’t being done, and so one more path down the road to war in Arkansas, of all places, is being followed.

No wonder a gym in Atlanta, Georgia, has banned both cops and active duty military, with a vulgar sign and policy, as The Blaze reports.  (I think this gym owner is an idiot and do not agree.) Supposedly the reason is that many “minorities” use the gym and are “uncomfortable” around cops and military.  Really?  According to Pew Research, blacks account for 13% of active-duty troops but are just 11% of the population (overall, 40% of the military is minority while 44% of the nation’s population is).  And military personnel (at least, not active duty) are not gunning down civilians in the streets.  But once more, we see the drive to war – perhaps a true civil war along racial, pro- and anti-government, class or religious lines.

But honestly, I don’t think war here in the Fifty States is all that likely.  Even the insane North Korean regime would hesitate to directly attack the mainland (or even Alaska and Hawaii) – Guam and Okinawa and maybe Subic Bay and bases on the major Japanese islands, but not ConUS.  They have to know that however badly they hurt the US – even with an EMP – is suicide.  But as with the Catalonian situation, any attack by North Korea against a US base or fleet, if successful in any way, or actually using a nuke, opens a can of worms that will be very hard to close, and may lead to the unraveling of both the Fifty States (well, some of them and the FedGov) and the current world order.

One issue would be California secession.  Mainstream news is already reporting that panicked Golden Staters (mostly libs/progressives, it seems) are buying bomb shelters and demanding anything at all be done to remove the threat – however small – of a nuclear attack.  Thus, even attacking US bases thousands of miles away, will no doubt trigger still MORE panic and a desire for an independent and neutral nation.

Looks like it is going to be fun.

PS:  One of the problems with war is just who is on what side.  (And here I thought we had too much government here in the Fifty States!  Seriously, we do.) But here is a recent Breitbart headline and lead paragraph: “Spanish police said Tuesday they have arrested a Turkish-Swedish reporter and writer in Barcelona [soon to be part of an independent Catalonia, of course] on an international arrest order from Turkey for alleged terrorism.”